Ministry of Agriculture &
Farmers Welfare
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ms Shobha Karandlaje takes review meeting of various Central sector schemes and centrally Sponsored schemes in Goa.
Darshana Pednekar Honoured by MOS Shobha Karandlaje
Panji: 30 September 2021
Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ms Shobha Karandlaje takes review meeting of various Central sector schemes and centrally Sponsored schemes in Goa.
The Key takeaways from the review meet are as enunciated below.
- The total cropped area in the state of Goa is 144381 Hectares and eighty percent of farmers are small and marginal farmers.The focus points for agriculture in the state of Goa are PM Kisan Samman Scheme, Kisan Credit Card, Farmer Producer Organisation and Agriculture Infrastructure Fund.
- The Minister gave assurance that the issue of tenants under PM Kisan Samman Schemes would be resolved at the earliest.
- Agriculture Infrastructure fund, which provides long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and financial support, should be taken up in a better way in the state of Goa. Not only Farmer Produce Organisations but also individuals among others can benefit under AIF and Goa should make maximum use of this fund.
- MoS also suggested that Goa may put into use digital technologies, with the objective of providing updated crop production related know-how, arrangement of critical agricultural inputs, primary soil and seed testing facilities and arranging interface with the public and private sector. MGNREGA fund also may be put to good use.
- Digital methods for Crop Survey to be put in place soon, to survey the loss suffered by the farmers during flood, drought, etc. The technology is developed now and farmers can themselves click photos of the field / loss suffered, upload it on the app. The Minister mentioned the farmers from Karnataka and Gujarat already using these digital methods.Once the data is uploaded, expert panel members can quickly review the situation and take necessary action.Minister also suggested that ‘Swayampurna Mitra’ can also be used for crop survey.
- The Minister also mentioned that the farmers should get good and quality seeds. All the seed packets entering the state of Goa should be authenticated using a Quick Response Code system We should see that the seeds should bear QR Code and should contain information such as quality, Licence No. Place. Etc, which gives the end to end data for seeds.
- Cultivation of sugarcane and production of jaggery may be increased as there is a big demand for jaggery for export. Sugarcane can be converted into ethanol and last year 9.5 tonnes of sugarcane converted into ethanol, the Minister said.
- The Minister also encouraged an Integrated supply chain of fruits and vegetables, the funds for which will be provided over and above that is available in the Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture. Chain System systems are to be adopted by all states in the country and become Atmanirbhar.
- Price of agricultural mechanisms should be the same in every state. It should not differ in different places in the Country. The Government of India has instructed dealers and manufacturers to put the same price list across the country.
- The Minister said the three products, Milk, Vegetables and Fodder, we should become self-sufficient in of these three products in next three years, so accordingly we should strive towards Atamanirbhar.
Dy Cm Shri and Goa Cabinet Minister Shri Chandrakant Kavlekar, Heads of various agriculture related departments in Govt of Goa and Govt of India also attended the meeting. Various aspects of Swayampurna Goa and Atmanirbhar Bharat were discussed.Under Swayampurna Goa meeting are held at Panchayat level every Saturday and also on Sundays where in all government schemes are explained, beneficiaries are selected, applications are obtained and forwarded to the respective departments and necessary follow up is done. “Swayampurna Mitr” a senior government employee residing in the village, is appointed to coordinate, monitor and to ensure that every benefit of the government scheme reaches to the needy in the village.
During the review meeting the Minister honoured Smt Darshana Pednekar, at Goa Secretariat, who received accolades from the Hon'ble Prime Minister for her modern agricultural practices.Darshana Pednekar has four acres of farmland in Parra,Goa on which she grows paddy and other thirty five variety horticulture crops.In addition, she is an entrepreneur who started processing unsold coconuts during lockdown for oil extraction.She was given training on modern farming by ICAR Goa. Minister assured all support for Darshana Pednekar in the future also, and hailed her as a role model for women empowerment in the country. The Minister also expressed her happiness that Govt of Goa , CM Dr Pramod Sawant and Agriculture minister Shri Chandrakant Kavlekar are doing amazing work for the better implementation of the farmers welfare in Goa ,which are framed through popular pro farmers schemes by Govt of India led by Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
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